Variable-speed gearing.



l. W; CAMPBELL.

VARIABLE SPEED BEARING.,

AwucAmN man num. as, w95.

Paiemed May 9,1916.

JAMES W. CAMPBELL, 0F RENO, NEVADA.

VARIABLE-SPEED GEARING.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that l, JAMES W. CAMPBELn, a citizen of the United States, and a res1- dent of Reno, in the county of Washoe and State of Nevada, have invented a certain new and useful lmprovement in Variable- Speed Gearing, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in variable speed gearing, and it consists in the combinations, constructions, and arrangements herein described and claimed.

An object of my invention is to provide a combination gearing by means of which variousv speeds may be imparted to the driven shaft, and in which the change from one speed to another is accomplished by means of clutch members, without the necessity of shifting gears out of or into mesh with certain other gears.

A. further object of my invention is to provide a device of the ty e described in which the mechanism is shifted positively so as to give the desired speed and in which the device is locked after shifting so as to prevent another set of devices from in any way interfering with those in use.

A. further object of my invention is to provide a device of the type described in which the drive shaft may be connected directly to the driven shaft without the use of friction clutches, and when so connected the other parts of the transmission mechanism are entirely free from the drive or driven shaft and hence are in a neutral and safe condition.

Other objects and advantages will appear in the following specification, and the novel features of the device will be particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, forming part of this application and in which-- Figure 1 is a central section through the device; Fig. 2 is a section along the line 2 2 of Fig. 1; and Fig. 3 is a section along the-line 3-3 of Fig. 2.

In carrying out my invention, I provide a driven shaft 1 having a central bore or recess 2 in its end, the latter being enlarged as shown in Fig. 1, and being provided with a loosely mounted gear 3 having clutch inembers 3X arranged to engage slmilar clutch members 4L of a sleeve 4 which is slidably mounted on the enlarged end of the shaft Speciication of Letters Patent.

Patented May 9, 1916.

Application led March 13, 1915. Serial No. 14,048.

the key or feather 5 permitting a longitudinal movement of the clutch sleeve 4 with respect to the shaft while providing for the rotation of the clutch 4 with the shaft. On the opposite side of the clutch sleeve 4 from the clutch members 4x are similar clutch members 4y arranged to engage clutch members 6x of a collar 6 which is disposed on the squared portion 7a of the drive shaft 7, a reduced portion 7"' extending into the bore 2 as shown in Fig. 1. A gear 8 is keyed to a shaft 9 which is arranged parallel with the drive shaft 7. Two other gears are also keyed to this shaft 9. These gears vare shown at 10 and 11 respectively. r1`he gear 11 has clutch members 11a arranged to en# gage clutch members 12a carried by a gear 12. A collar 13 is secured to the shaft 9 between the bearing 14 and the gear 12. A shaft 12 is provided upon which is mounted a gear 12k, this gear meshing with the gear 12 and with the gear 20 and forming part of the set of gears for the reverse movement of the driven shaft.

The drive shaft 7 is supported at one `end by a portion of the casing rect alinement with the driven shaft l'which passes through the opposite portion of the casing 15, the extended portion 7" of the shaft 7 which enters the bore in the shaft 1, keeping these two shafts in alinement. On the inside of the casing 15 is a clutch member 16 which is secured to the drive shaft 7 by means of a pin 17. rfhis clutch member 16 is arranged to be engaged by the clutch members 18a, 19a, or 20a associated with the gears 18, ,19, and 20 respectively. 1t will be observed that the gear 20 is on a long hub or sleeve which is loosely carried by the shaft 7, that the gear 19 is on a hub which is loosely carried by the hub of the gear 20, and that the gear 18 is loosely mounted on thehub of the gear 19. rlhe hub .of the gear 20 is provided with 'a yoke 21 which is connected with a plunger 21x extending through the casingvl. The gear 19 is provided with' a yoke 22 which is associated with the plunger 22x. The gear 18 has a yoke 23 which isconnected with the plunger 23X.

An arm 24 is pivotally mounted at 25 (see Fig. 2) and bears at its end a shoe 26 which rides in the groove 27 in the clutch sleeve 4. The arm 24 is connected by means of a slotted link 28 with an arm 29 connected with the plunger 29X.- A. spring 30 bears on the arm 24. The purpose of the arrangement just described is to permit the plunger 29X to have a uniform throw or'movement with they other similar plungers, 21X, 22",l and 23x. as the arm 29 so as to multiply the throw of the, clutch sleeve 4, thereby providing a positive engagement of the clutch members on either side thereof. v. l

From the foregoing description of the various parts of the device, the operation thereof may be readily understood.

In the drawings, the parts are shown in their neutral position. Let us assume that a low speed is desired. The plunger 29x 1s first pushed in thereby bringing the clutch members 3X and 4X into engagement so as to connect the gear 3 with the driven shaft 1. The plunger Y22x is now moved outwardly in the direction indicated by the arrow in Fig. 2 and through the medium of the yoke 22 moves the gear 19 and its hub which contains' the clutch member-,19a toward the clutch. member 16, the clutch member 19a engaging with the clutch member 16a. The movement of the drive shaft 7 is communicated to the driven shaft 1 through the inner connection of the following parts: 16, 16a, 19a, 19, gear 11, shaft 9, gear 8, gear 3, clutch members 3? and 4", clutch sleeve 4, and shaft 1. It will be observed that the gears 19 and 8 are both smaller than their engaging gears 11 and 3 and hence the motion transmitted to the shaft 1 will be relatively slow.

Incase direct movement of the shaft 7 is desired to be transmitted to the shaft 1, the parts being in neutral position, the plunger 29X is drawn outwardly thus causing the engagement of clutch members 4y and 6". The clutch collar 6 which bears the teeth 6i is carried by the shaft 7 So that movement is transmitted through these' members directly to the shaft 1. In this condition all of the other operating parts of the transmission mechanism are absolutely freev So thereis no danger of injuring the mechanism'or of injuring the operator by the other parts of the mechanism while the two shafts are directly connected to,

Similarly it might be shown that v gethcr. on shifting the plunger 23x the gear 18carrying the clutch member 18a will cause the transmission of an intermediate speed to the, driven shaft 1 while the gear 20 may be brought into operation by the plunger 21X to cause lthe reverse movement of the shaft 1. These movements are effected while the gears which transmit the movement are in mesh, thus obviating an)7 tendency to strip the teeth fromthe gears.

The arm 24 is brought back to its central position by means of the spring 30 after the clutch members 4y and 6x have been brought The arm 24is twice as long out of mesh. The slot in the link 28 also serves-to permit the plunger 29x to return tov its neutral position. A l

Another feature to which. I desire to call attention is the fact that by the use of this apparatus, one in enabled to go from'a lower speed, such as intermediate directly into high by the movement of a single lever.

yThis is of considerable importance in autothe drive shaft 7 through 16, 18, 10, 9, gear 8, 3, 3X, 4X, 4, to shaft 1; that is to say, the device will be running on intermediate Now, by manipulating the plunger 29X, the sleeve or member 4 may be shifted so as to engage the collar or member 6 and thus bring the two shafts 7 and l into direct connection so as to run the automobile on high Assume further that the river is approaching a hill which he thinks he can ascend on high speed, but he finds that the power is not sufficient. Byreversing the movement of the plunger 29Xhe can at once go into intermediate, assuming that the plunger 23X has been pulled outwardly as before stated. This change of speed by the shiftmg of a single plunger or lever I regard as an lmportant eature of my invention.

1. In a variable speed gear, a drive shaft, a driven shaft, a fixed clutch member at the end of said drive shaft, a slidable clutch member carried by said driven shaft and adapted to engage the fixed clutch member on the drive shaft, a gear loosely mounted on said driven shaft on the opposite side of v drive shaft, an auxiliary shaft, an individual gear carried by said auxiliary shaft for each of the slidable gears on said drive shaft and in constant mesh with its associated gear, and a gear carried by said auxiliary shaft and being in constant mesh with said loosely mounted gear on said driven shaft.

2. In a variable speed gear, a drive shaft, a driven shaft, a fixed clutch member at the end of said drive shaft, a slidable clutch member carried by said driven shaft and adapted to engage the fixed clutch member on the drive shaft, a gear loosely mounted on said driven shaft on the opposite side of said slidable clutch member from the fixed clutch member, a second ixed clutch member on said drive shaft, a plurality of slidable gears disposed on said drive shaft, each of said last-named slidable 4gears having a clutch member arranged to engage said second named iixed clutch member on said drive shaft, an auxiliary shaft, an individual gear carried by said auxiliary shaft for each of the slidable gears on said drive shaft and in constant mesh With its associated gear, a gear carried by said auxiliary shaft and being in constant mesh with said loo-sely mounted gear on said driven shaft, and means for moving any one of the slidable gears on saidv drive shaft into and out of operative relation With the second named fixed clutch member on said drive shaft.

3. In a variable speed gear, a drive shaft, a driven shaft, a fixed clutch member at the end of said drive shaft, a slidable clutch member carried by said driven shaft and adapted to engage the ixed clutch member on the drive shaft, a gear loosely mounted on said driven shaft on the vopposite side of said slidable clutch member from the fixed clutchmember, a second fixed clutch member on said drive shaft, a plurality of slidable gears disposed on said drive shaft, each of said last-named slidable gears having a clutch member arranged to engage said sec'- ond named fixed clutch member on said drive shaft, an auxiliary shaft, an individual gear carried by said auxiliary shaft for each of the slidable gears on said drive shaft and in constant mesh With its associated gear, a gear carried by said auxiliary shaft and being in constant mesh with said loosely mounted gear on said driven shaft, means for moving any one of the slidable gears on said drive shaft into and out of operative relation with the second named fixed clutch member on said drive shaft, said last-named means comprising a plunger for each of said slidable gears, and a yoke connected to said plunger and arranged to engage a portion of its individual slidable gear.

JAMES W. CAMPBELL. Witnesses: ROBERT G. WITHERS, JEROME L. VAN DERWERKER. 

